Tower jacking structure drive



Oct. 20, 1953 E. A. CAMPBELL TOWER JACKING STRUCTURE DRIVE 5 Sheets-Sheet l Filed oet. 7, 195o IN V EN TOR.

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Oct. 20, 1953 E, A, CAMPBELL 2,656,149

TOWER JACKING STRUCTURE DRIVE Filed Oct. '7, 1950 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 xv- W 52/- .3

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L El: L* @@ooooolgl 72 f /w www Patented Oct. 2D, 1953 'UNITED .si-Ares Arent ortica TOWER STRUTURE DRIVE `AppliczttionaOctober 7, 1950', Serial No..l 188,971.

invention relates-.to tower jacking structures,..such `as shownv my copending .application; Serial No.. 12.4;665gnow Patent. No. 2,530,803?,

dated November 2da. 1950, `and more. particularly a. Ydri-ving mechanism for such av structure.

It is among the objects of this intention to provide a tower .jacking structure `driye in which all lacks can be.' raised simultaneously by a single motor-operated drivingY rmit,` and in which` the driving mechanism is: easily attached toand removed. :from theA .jacking structure.

Ln accordance with. this invention, a.y jacking structures-urroun'dsra multipleleg tower and lhas aseparategear driven screw jack .for each. tower leg. Generally, there` are four tower legs, and therefore four jacks. yA: 'substantially horizontal `drive.slsia'tt isprovided tor eachiack gear drive,

each shaft. extending toward the center" of the jacking. strucmre. -Operatively con-nested to `the ends of: all of `the -dri-ve shafts is `a gear reduction unit which is disposed near the center oithe Alacking structure.. This: unit and ythe motor drives yit-riiay be: supported by a frame suspended from the bottom of the jacking structure. The gear reduction -unit preferably includes .a worm that is journaled on a vertical axis` at the` center of agear housing, andwormgears journaled on, horizontal axes` in thehousing and `mesh-ing with the worm at uni- `tornai-y spaced: intervals around it.` The worm `4the tower taken4 onv the 11i-ne IL-II of 1;

Figs. 3 and 4 are enlarged fragmentary vertical sections through the. lower part of thev jacking structure taken on the lines III- III and IV-IV, respectively., of Fig. 2; and Fig. 5 is. an enlarged plan View, partly broken away, of' the. gear reduction unit at the center' of the jacking structure.

4 Claims. (Cl. 7254-92) Referring to Fig. l of the drawings, the lower part oi a conventional electric transmission` "tower 'is shown which is constructed of structuralfsteel angle members. The tower has ifour legs, each of which has an upper section I that is anchored in theground. The tower tapers upwardly and has one or more cross arms (not shown) near itsV top for supporting elec-tric transmission lines. They tower is shown as it appears after it has beenv raised several inches by means of the jacking structure that now will be described. Therefore, the lower ends of legs l are shown connected by horizontal girts. 3: and diagonal braces 4 which were added after the upper sections of the legs. were disconnected from the, lower sections.

The jacking structure includes four jacks, A, B, C and D, one for each tower leg 'as` show-n in Fig. 2. The jacks are located outside, of the tower and are connected rigidly together by braces. so that the iacking structure surrounds the lower `part of the tower. Asshown in Figs. 1., 2 and 3. each jack includes-a column or rel- -tical frame, having a pair of parallel vertical side rails l0 rigidly connected at their upper ends by a crossbeam il., and rigidly connected at their lower ends by a hollow base member t2.. The side rails are formed. from angle bars pointing toward each other so that their side surfaces converge toward the. center of `the frame. The rails are connected at vertically spaced intervals by horizontal braces, t3. that curve outward away from the rails. The lower part of the frame is further braced by a pair of tubular braces tt weldedl tothe base member Y l2 and converging upward and outward to one of the horizontal braces I3. y

Located between the side rails of. the frames is a pair of long parallel; screws I6, the upper ends of 'which extend up through the crossbeam at the top of the frame. Heads Il are secured to the protecting upper ends 'of the screws, these lheadsbeing rotatably mounted in and supported by bearings i8 mounted on top of the beam. 'TheV screwsV are thus suspended in the frame from their upper ends. The lower end of each screw extends down into the hollow base member t2 where it splined in a worm gear la (jack A in Fig. 2) journaled in a box 2l mountedin the base member. Each gear meshes withy 'a worm 2.2 on. a shaft 23 that extends out through the front of the base member and through a bracket 2t attached to the top of that: member. Between the base member and bracket, each shaft supports a bracket 26, around which a vchain 2l extends. The outer end of one shaft may carry a hand wheel 28, by which the shaft can be turned if desired, whereupon the other shaft will be turned with it lby means of the chain 'and sprockets, 'so that the two screws are rotated in unison. The shaft 23 also extends out through the back of the base member for a purpose to be explained presently.

The base of each frame is designed to rest on top of a frame support formed from spaced inner and outer horizontal supporting beams 39 and 3I. The frame is provided with a pair of depending lugs 32 (Fig. 3) that project down between the two supporting beams, where they are locked in place by removable pins 33 inserted through openings in the lugs, the inner channel beam 30, and a vertical plate 3d welded in the back of the outer I beam 3 I. The supporting beams are intended to be clamped to a leg stub 2 just below the splice. the inner beam is secured to an inclined clamping member 3l adapted to t inside of a leg stub. The outer beam is provided with a similar clamping member 3S adapted to t over the outside of the stub. The two clamping members are bolted to the stub between them before the jack frame is set on the frame support.

The actual lifting of each tower leg I is done by means of a lifting member 4I) (Fig. 1) attached to the leg and to the screws I6 in the adjoining jack. When the screws are turned, the lifting member is moved vertically. The opposite ends of the lifting member are guided by the adjoining side rails I9 of the jack frame.

The lifting member is attached to leg section I above the splice by means of a clamp 48 which is shaped to t over the outer surface of the leg. This clamp is suspended from the lifting lmember.

After the four jacks have been mounted in place, as described in more detail in my cepending patent application, the jack frames are rigidly connected together around the tower Iby means of horizontal girts 5I and inclined bra-ces 52. tal diagonal braces 54 are added later, after certain interfering braces on the tower have been removed and the tower has been raised to the position shown in Fig. 1.

Before the tower is raised at all, the mechanism for operating the jacks A, B, C and D is installed. Thus, a horizontal frame B having upwardly extending ends SI is suspended between a pair of the lowest girts I of the jacking structure by means of J bolts 62. The frame extends across the center of the jacking structure and tower. Mounted on the frame near its center is a gear reduction unit. As shown in Fig. 3, this unit includes a square housing 63 which is connected 'by bolts 64 to a pair of vertical plates 56 that extend above and below it. The lower ends of the plates are connected by -bolts S'I to diagonal supporting members in frame 60. Rotatably mounted in the center of the housing is a vertical stub shaft 68 which carries a worm 69. This worm meshes with four worm gears 'II disposed with their axes horizontal and spaced at 90 intervals around the central worm, as shown in Fig. 5. Each worm gear is rigidly mounted on a short horizontal shaft 12, the inner end of which is journaled in a bearing 'I3 inside the housing, and the outer end of which is journaled in a bearing 14 mounted in a side wall of the housing. The four short shafts project from the four sides of the housing. The worm stub shaft B8 is driven by a motor 'I6 supported between the upper ends of the vertical plates 66 that support the gear housing. Any suitable motor may be used, but an air motor is preferred. Each of the worm gear shafts 'I2 For this purpose Additional inclined braces 53 and horizonis connected to a different one of the jack worm shafts 23 'by means of a drive shaft extending diagonally of the tower. To facilitate installation and removal of these drive shafts, each one is an expandable or telescoping shaft formed from a pair of axially-spaced shaft members 'I1 connected by a tubular member 'I8 splined on their adjacent ends. Setscrews 'I9 (Fig. 2) in the opposite ends of the tubular member engage the shaft members to hold them the desired distance apart. The opposite ends of each of these drive shafts are coupled to the adjacent shafts 23 and 12 by means of flexible couplings 8U.

It will be seen that when the motor is operated, the vertical worm B9 in gear housing 63 will drive all of the worm gears 'II therein in unison, and they in turn, through the diagonal drive shafts, will drive the jacks in unison. Therefore, all four corners of the tower are raised simultaneously until they reach the desired height. A tower extension, such as shown in my copending application, then is erected inside the jacking structure in the space between the leg stubs 2 and the bottom of the elevated tower to increase the height of the tower. After the extension has been erected, the jacks are operated to lower the lifting members 40 just enough to take the strain olf the lifting clamps 48 so that they can be disconnected from leg sections I. The jacking structure braces are removed next along with the jack drive, and then the jack frames are removed from their supports 30, 3I. Following this, the frame supports are disconnected from the leg stubs and the excavations around the stubs are filled in.

According to the provisions of the patent statutes, I have explained the principle of my invention and have illustrated and describedv what I now consider to represent its best embodiment. However, I desire to have it understood that, within the scope o f the appended claims, the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically illustrated and described.

I claim:

1. The combination with a jacking structure adapted to surround a multiple leg tower and having a separate screw jack for each tower leg, of a separate substantially horizontal drive shaft for each jack extending toward the center of the jacking structure, a support suspended from opposite sides of the jacking structure and extending across yit below the drive shafts, a gear housing mounted on said support near the center of said structure, a worm journaled on a vertical axis at the center of said housing, worm gears journaled on horizontal axes in the housing and meshing with said worm at uniformly spaced intervals around it, means for operatively connecting the worm gears with the inner ends of the drive shafts, and a motor for driving said worm.

2. The combination with a jacking structure adapted to surround a four leg tower land having a separate screw jack for each tower leg, of a separate substantially horizontal drive shaft for each jack extending diagonally toward the center of the jacking structure, a gear housing disposed near the center of said structure, a vertical Worm journaled in the center of the housing, four Worm gears journaled on horizontal axes in the housing and lneshing with said worm ninety degrees apart, a stub shaft supporting each worm gear and driven by it, the stub shafts extending out of the sides of the housing in four different directions, a bearing supporting the inner end of each 'stu-b shaft inside the housing, means for operatively connecting the outer end of each stub shaft with the inner end of a drive shaft, and Ia motor for driving said worm, whereby all of said drive shafts are rotated 'in unison.

3. A jacking structure for a tower provided with four legs, said structure comprising la separate jack for each tower leg and braces for rigidly connecting the jacks together around the tower; each jack including a vertical frame, means connected to the lower end of the frame for supporting it, ya vertical screw rotatably mounted 'at its upper end in the top of the fram-e and suspended therefrom, a driven gear mounted on the lower end of the screw for rotating it, a drive gear mounted on a horizontal axis for driving said driven gear, a drive shaft for the drive gear extending diagonally toward the center of the jacking structure, a lifting member threaded on the screw for vertical travel when the screw is turned, and means adapted to connect said lifting member to a tower leg; a support ysuspended from opposite sides of the jacking structure yand extending across it below the drive shafts, a gear housing mounted on said support near the center of said structure, a vertical Worm journaled in the center of the housing, four worm gears journaled on horizon- 6 tal axes in the housing and meshing with said worm ninety degrees apart, a stub shaft supporting each worm gear and driven fby it, the stub shafts extending out of the sides of the housing in four diierent directions, a bearing supporting the inner end of each stub shaft inside the housing, means for operatively connecting the outer end of each stub shaft with the inner end of a drive shaft, and a motor for driving said worm, whereby after each leg has been separated into two sections `at a point below the lifting member connected to it the upper sections of the four legs can be raised together.

4. Apparatus in accordance with claim 2, in

which each of the drive shafts is a telescoping shaft.

ERWIN A. CAMPBELL.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,252,166 Clawson et Aal Aug. 12J 1941 2,530,807 Campbell Nov. 21, 1950 2,631,008 Kroll et a1. Mar. 10, 1953 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 544,355 France June 20, 1922 529,921 Great Britain Dec. 2, 1940 

